### 103

It is shortly before midday when you come to a wooden bridge that carries the highway across a swollen stream. On the other side of the bridge is a farmstead surrounded by a split pine fence. Chao informs you that this farmstead belongs to his wife’s brother, Genzu. It comprises a farm house, a large barn, and several small outhouses and pig pens. It seems to be deserted and Chao says this is very odd. Genzu employs more than twenty farmhands and this place is usually very busy, even when the weather is bad.

Lieutenant Quang decides to take a closer look. He has a strong feeling that something is amiss. You ride through a gap in the fence and along a muddy track that leads directly to the farm house and barn. Chao calls out to Genzu but he gets no reply.

‘Maybe he’s in the barn,’ he says, and he trots his horse towards its open double doors. Quang tells Bai to go and see if anyone is inside the farm house. Bai dismounts and hands the reins of his horse to Deng before running across the muddy ground towards the farm house door.

‘No sense us standing out here in the rain,’ says Quang, and he motions you to follow him to the barn. Chao is searching the lower part of the barn when you ride in. You see that there is an expansive loft overhead that occupies the apex of the roof and is stacked with bales of straw. You dismount and join Chao to look for anything that could explain why the farm has been abandoned. Meanwhile, Quang and Deng climb the ladder that leads to the hay loft.

You are searching along the west side of the barn, close to the timber planked wall, when you catch something moving out of the corner of your eye. Through a gap in the planks, you see several figures approaching. At first you think it could be Genzu and his farm hands returning from the potato fields, but when you press your face to the gap and magnify your vision you are shocked by what you see.

‘Skarada!’ you cry. ‘To the west. And closing fast!’

Your warning chills the hearts of Quang and the others. As they hurry to peer through gaps in the plank wall, Bai comes running into the barn shouting.

‘Skarada! And Chagarashi too!’

If you have a Bow and wish to use it, turn to 211.

If you possess the Grand Master Discipline of Animal Mastery, and have attained the rank of Grand Thane, turn to 268.

If you do not have Animal Mastery, or have not attained the required rank, turn to 242.